Ericsson smiled broadly as he said it, because the truth about Kronwall is he's as kind a person as he is crushing a player. Twice during the game that landed Sweden a shot at Olympic gold, Finland's Teemu Selanne engaged Kronwall in a little physicality. And twice, it didn't end well for Selanne.

All ended well for Sweden as they edged past Finland, 2-1, today at Bolshoy Ice Dome to advance to Sunday's gold medal match at the Sochi Games. Sweden will take a 5-0 run up against defending champion Canada, which shut out the U.S., 1-0, in the second semifinal. The final pits Kronwall and his handful of fellow Red Wings against their NHL coach, Mike Babcock, the head coach of Canada.

Kronwall, star defenseman for the Red Wings, has been captain of Sweden for four games, ever since teammate Henrik Zetterberg had to pull out because of a herniated disk in his back. Being a captain of any team is not an easy task, but Daniel Alfredsson, who formerly held the job with the Ottawa Senators, said Kronwall's performance against Finland demonstrated why he fits it to a “C.”

"He was a horse out there," Alfredsson said. "He was physical, he made unbelievable passes, he had poise, he had aggressiveness, and that's hard to do at this stage. When you're him, being the captain, leading by example, sometimes you want to do too much. But with him, I find him just dominating out there. It was great to see. He's a huge leader for us with Henrik gone."

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Sweden's shot at gold shone a bit less after the injury to Zetterberg, which came a week after Henrik Sedin pulled out with an injury. Yet now Sweden is where players believed they could be all along, having taken advantage of being in a weak group, then steamrolling through a quarterfinal against upstart Slovenia before denying Finland its game plan of waiting for mistakes and going through the neutral zone with speed. Kronwall led the way as Sweden flexed its muscle. It's what Kronwall has done for years in the playoffs for Detroit, rattling opponents.

"I think, if anything, it's a desire that's in him," Alfredsson said. "It's not that he feels, 'Oh, I'm going to punish that guy.' I think his feeling is, 'If I do this, it's going to help my team.' That's the way he plays. Everything he does seems to be for the team."

Erik Karlsson, Sweden's top weapon on its lethal power play, netted the game-winning goal with a blue-line blast five minutes after Loui Eriksson found a half-open net off a sweet feed from Ericsson. Olli Jokinen scored Finland's goal.

Sweden last won Olympic gold at the 2006 Torino Games, their first since Peter Forsberg's stamp-worthy shoot-out goal earned him folk-hero status at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. They won't be favorites Sunday, but that's of little concern to the players. Karlsson spent a good minute raving about how much fun the Swedes are having sweeping their way through Sochi, from riding bikes to work to rooming together to winning. Kronwall is a big part of that, because "he is leading by example, and it makes it easier sometimes to take decisions out there," Karlsson said.

Kronwall's key is sticking with the zen of Zetterberg.

"I keep thinking about what Hank says in Detroit — don't get too high, don't get too low," Kronwall said. "That's just something that I keep in the back of my mind. Hank is an unbelievable captain, and we wish he was here with us. He can't be here physically, but mentally, it feels like he is around us."

Kronwall had little to say about himself, because extolling his own strengths doesn't come naturally to him. Gabriel Landeskog described Kronwall as "extremely stellar," and others described him as "a great leader," but Ericsson did have a point: No one described Kronwall as nice.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.